THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all
very much for that warm welcome. It's my honor to welcome
you to my home state. We need the rain, so I appreciate you
bringing it from all around the country. I want you to know,
you're in a military town. (Applause.) The people
of this city are always proud to honor those who serve, and those who
wear the uniform today.

Mr. Mayor, thank you for your
hospitality. I know on behalf of all the folks who have come
to this convention, they thank you, and your able staff, the good folks
of San Antonio, for being such great hosts to this wonderful
convention. (Applause.)

It's an honor for San Antonio to host
you. And it's a high honor for me to stand before my fellow
Legionaries as the Commander-in-Chief of the United States
Military. (Applause.) And it was a higher honor
to escort to this podium the Legion Auxiliary's Woman of the
Year. You couldn't have made a finer
choice. (Applause.)

I want to thank Ray Smith, the National
Commander, for giving me a chance to come. And I want to
thank him for his service. I want to thank Kristine West for
her service as well. I want to thank Bob Spanogle, the
National Adjutant. I want to thank the man who runs your
Washington, D.C. office, John Sommer, for working so closely with my
administration. I want to welcome members of my Cabinet who
are here, Tony Principi, Elaine Chow. And I understand that Henry
Bonilla, the Congressman from this area is here, and I want to say
hello to Henry, and his wife Deborah.

And finally, I want to introduce you all,
if you haven't met him yet, to a fine man who's making a great Governor
for Texas, my friend, the 47th Governor of the State of Texas, Rick
Perry. (Applause.) Rick, you need to know, we've
just come in from Crawford, Texas. And a lot of folks down
there can't wait to vote for you.

The American Legion was chartered in the
years after World War I, just about the time that Dwight Eisenhower was
a junior officer, living right here in San Antonio, Texas, at Fort
Sam. You've seen wars and their aftermath. You've
received millions into your ranks. You've seen our culture
change for better, and sometimes for worse.

And yet, from that founding day in 1919,
to this very day, the American Legion has never compromised its
principles. (Applause.) As General Douglas
McArthur said at your 1951 convention, "The American Legion has been
invincibly faithful to God and to country." Those of us
honored to serve in high office, have commitments of our own to our
nation's veterans.

I made my own commitments last year, when
we met in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Those commitments are now
becoming policies. And the needs of our veterans are once
again priorities of our government. (Applause.)

If you've worn the uniform, you know just
how efficiently government can sometimes work. When
government needed your services, it moved pretty fast. There
weren't many delays. And that's exactly how government ought
to operate in repaying you for your service, in giving you the benefits
you earned. Some of you are among the thousands of veterans
whose claims have been delayed, or sadly enough, lost in the
bureaucracy.

At my direction, the Department of
Veterans Affairs has begun to change the way it does
business. And I put a good man in charge, my friend and your
friend, Tony Principi. (Applause.) Tony is
conducting a top to bottom review of the VA claims processing.

Reform has begun, and we're starting where
the need is greatest. At present, there are more than
600,000 pending applications. A full 53,000 of them have
been pending for more than a year. And many were filed by
veterans over the age of 70. Think about that: here are
thousands of men who served their country in Korea and World War II, or
both. The last thing they need to hear from any federal
office are more -- more routine excuses. That's wrong, and
this administration is going to get it right. (Applause.)

Under Secretary Principi, these claims are
being given the highest priority. They will be brought to a
fair resolution, without excuses, and without delay. I've
also set the goal of improving cooperation between the VA and the
Pentagon in providing care to those who served. By executive
order, I have created a task force to recommend major reforms in the
delivery of health care to veterans and military retirees.

Two distinguished Americans will lead the
task force, Dr. Gail Wilensky, one of the nation's leading authorities
on health policy, and former Congressman Jerry Soloman, a long-time
veteran's advocate, who served our nation as a marine in the Korean
conflict. I'm pleased to announce that Bob Spanogle of the
American Legion has agreed, and will, serve on this task force to
represent the American Legion. (Applause.)

My administration is also serious about
implementing the Veteran's Millennium Health Care Act, to ensure high
quality care. In my first budget, I asked Congress for an
additional $1 billion for veteran benefits and services. And
Secretary Principi recently announced six new centers for Parkinson's
disease research and care, and 41 new outpatient clinics in 28
states. All the better to serve our nation's veterans.

In the budget I submitted, veterans are a
priority. My budgets will also discharge in full the most
basic responsibility for the President, to provide for the security of
the United States. (Applause.) In that
responsibility, a President needs capable partners, and I have chosen
well. I receive outstanding policy advice from Dr. Condoleezza Rice,
Secretary of State Colin Powell. I'm so pleased that Don
Rumsfeld is back for a second tour at the Pentagon. And the
nation has never had a finer Vice President than Dick
Cheney. (Applause.) Well, maybe it's a tie.

Last week in Crawford, I had the honor of
selecting a new Chairman for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to replace a
good and honorable man who served our nation well, and that's General
Hugh Shelton. I picked a native of Kansas City, Missouri,
Air Force General Richard Myers. (Applause.) And
as Vice-Chairman, I picked the first Marine ever, Pete
Pace. (Applause.) I have assured both men and every man and
woman serving today that the services will receive the support and
means they need to operate.

I recently signed a bill allocating over
$2 billion in supplemental appropriations for military pay, benefits
and health care. (Applause.) In order to boost
the morale of our military, it starts with taking care of our
people. (Applause.)

But there's more. This budget I
submitted to Congress makes national defense a
priority. I've asked Congress to provide the largest
increase in military spending since Ronald Reagan was the President and
Commander-in-Chief of the United States. (Applause.)

And to meet any dangers, our
administration will begin building the military of the
future. We must and we will make major investments in
research and development. And we are committed to defending
America and our allies against ballistic missile attacks, against
weapons of mass destruction held by r rogue
leaders in rogue nations that hate America, hate our values and hate
what we stand for. (Applause.)

We have a clear eye on foreign
policy. We recognize it's a dangerous world. I
know this nation still has enemies, and we cannot expect them to be
idle. And that's why security is my first
responsibility. And I will not permit any course that leaves
America undefended.

In all of these efforts, I hope to have
the support of the good people in this room. The American
Legion is one of the most respected institutions in our nation, and one
of the most familiar. After all, on the main streets all
across America, the Legion Hall itself is a center of civic life, a
place where speeches, sometimes too long -- (laughter) -- are heard;
it's where the Scout troops meet; it's where special events are
celebrated.

I recently had the honor of welcoming the
leaders of tomorrow, those of Boys and Girls Nation, to the White
House. And I applaud you for your efforts at promoting
character in our young. And I also can't thank you enough
for promoting baseball as the American pastime.

With nearly 15,000 posts and close to 3
million members, the Legion helps make America better every single
day. You're recognized not merely as an organization of
interests, but as importantly, an organization of
values. You represent a ethic of service. When
you teach the values of honor and patriotism and personal
responsibility, you teach by example. And when you speak of the
American flag, and the legal protection it deserves, you speak with
authority. And you are right. (Applause.)

You may have heard recently, this past
month I've been outside of Washington. I set up a Western
White House, right up the road in Crawford, Texas. But I've
been spending a lot of time traveling the Heartland of
America. And I'll do more traveling this fall, speaking
about my agenda and the values behind it.

I plan to speak about the values of
service and good citizenship that sustains our
country. That's where the greatness of America shines
through, not in the halls of government, but in the character of our
citizens. (Applause.)

One of the important goals of my
administration is to invigorate the spirit and involvement of our
citizens, to make sure no one is left out of the great America
Dream. I've created an Office of Faith-based and Community
Initiatives in the White House. And I'm asking Congress to
join me in my efforts.

It's time to bring new support and new
resources to institutions that help people in need. When
people of faith provide social services, and the love that is needed,
government must welcome them with open arms, and not discriminate
faith-based programs in America. (Applause.)

Oh, there's a lot we've got to get done
this fall, and I'm looking forward to getting back to
works. In the coming weeks, Congress will be going to what
they call a conference committee on a patients' bill of
rights. I support a good bill that's already passed the
House, one that serves patients first and doctors, but one that will
not encourage frivolous or junk lawsuits that could conceivably throw
people off their health care
insurance. (Applause.) I'm hopeful they'll move
quickly and get a good bill on my desk.

On Medicare, I've laid out common sense
principles for strengthening the program, including overdue -- long
overdue coverage for prescription drugs in Medicare.

As parents, grandparents, concerned
citizens, all of you are concerned about the quality of our public
schools, and I appreciate your involvement. We want the best for our
children, and no question it begins with making sure every child is
educated, and making sure our public schools not only teach how to read
and write and add and subtract, but teach our children the values that
have been sustained over a long period of time, the values necessary to
become good citizens.

There's a bill that passed the House,
there's a bill that passed the Senate. When they get back, I
hope they don't play politics with the education bill, and they need to
get it to my desk quickly, so I can sign it and reform the public
schools all across America. (Applause.)

And of course the members will be coming
back to consider the pieces of legislation, as well as to make
necessary spending decisions. So far this year, the signs
have been pretty good about how they're going to spend your
money. We got a bipartisan budget passed. It's an
important guideline as how best to spend taxpayers' money.

In record time as well, Congress passed, I
signed, and the mailman is now delivering the largest tax cut in a
generation. (Applause.) Our economy began slowing
down last year, and that's bad news. And I'm deeply worried
about the working families all across the country. According
to today's GDP figures, the recovery is very slow in
coming. But with the tax reduction already in place,
Americans will have more of their own money to spend, to save and
invest, the very things that make our economy grow. Tax
relief is exactly the right time -- thing, the right prescription at
the right time for the American economy.

Now, there are some who are
second-guessing tax relief. You hear the voices begin to
filter out of their home states. I presume those who now
oppose tax relief are for raising your taxes. That would tie
an anchor on our ecomony, and I can assure you I won't allow
it. (Applause.)

In the next few weeks, Congress will face
some critical choices, and some old temptations. I'm asking
them to let go of some of the old ways of doing business in Washington,
D.C. Most of you have been around long enough to know how
the process works. Often the important things are put off to
last. And in the meantime, lots of new spending gets thrown
in. Near the end of the process, suddenly we hear that Congress is
about to go over the budget, so the items that have been saved for last
are the ones most likely to get cut.

And guess which -- guess what usually has
been saved for the last? The defense bill, leaving our national
security at the mercy of budget games and last-minute
cuts. This year, we might even see our administration's two
highest priorities, education and national defense being played off
against each other.

That's the old way of doing business, and
it's time to stop it. We may have different agendas in
Washington, but we all have the same basic obligations. We
must start with the things that matter most to the future and security
of our country. This time -- and from this time forward, let
us put education and national defense at the first of the line, not at
the last. (Applause.)

I return to Washington tomorrow, ready to
make my case and ready to work with folks on both sides of the
aisle. Dick Cheney and I didn't seek our offices so we could
just settle in and mark time. We didn't come to rubber stamp
the status quo. We came to challenge old assumptions, and to
provide new directions. We came to get something done for
the country, and to change the tone in our national discourse.

I'm proud of the progress we have been
making, yet there's a lot to do. And I realize the American
people are counting on us. You have given me a perfect
sendoff. I leave honored by your support, and grateful for
your service to our great land.